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PM's role with left forum

Ben Schneiders

STARTED by disaffected members of the Communist Party of Australia in 1984, the Socialist Forum, at its peak, had more than 200 members, including Labor Party members and other left-wing political activists.

Its goal was to contribute to the development of democratic socialism in Australia.

Julia Gillard's role in the group drew controversy before the 2007 federal election when then treasurer Peter Costello sought to paint Ms Gillard as a long-term member of a radical group.

Ms Gillard defended her role and rejected claims the Socialist Forum was a communist front.

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''What Peter Costello is referring to is more than 20 years ago when I was in my 20s. I was a full-time university student and I had a part-time job for an organisation called Socialist Forum, which was a sort of debating society,'' she told the ABC. Ms Gillard reportedly was the forum's legal adviser on drafting its constitution, signed its liquor licence applications and was also on its management committee.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, interest in the group fell away, with university archives saying the level of active membership dropped from the mid-1990s.